Ghosts of the Past
by Revy Babe
Summary: Sequel to 'Just Let Go.' Things seem to be going well for Sam and the boys, that is, until strange things start happening and once again their world is shaken.
1. Harvard

Disclaimer: Let's start this again…I don't own anything!

Well, people have been asking for a sequel, and here it is! Just a little warning though, the updates aren't going to be as quick as last time. It's crunch time at university and I need to concentrate on the assignments and finals.

Ghosts of the Past – Harvard

Harvard. She'd wanted to go to Harvard since before she could remember, and now that she was there, she could hardly believe it. Samantha Proctor was your average eighteen year old college freshman. She was young, intelligent, and very excited. Her very first day at Harvard was coming to an end and she was sitting under a tree reading a book and reflecting on her day.

It had gone well. The classes were intense but Sam enjoyed them nonetheless. The best part was that she was there with her friends and her boyfriend. The Sons of Ipswich were no longer in Ipswich, but they were brothers all the same. They'd all wanted to go to Harvard and were all happy when they got accepted. It was Sarah's dream to go to Harvard and Kate would have been happy anywhere, as long as she had Pogue and her friends.

Yes, Sam Proctor was your average eighteen year old girl – with one minor exception. Sam was a witch. She'd been expelled from her home by her mother for being one, along with her brother Matt. After an explosive battle ending in her brother's death, Sam took in her youngest brother Andy and brought him to Spencer with her since he, too, had powers. That's where he was now, back in Ipswich enjoying his second year at Spencer Academy.

Sam was brought out of her thoughts and looked up from her book when she smelled the strong aroma of coffee. She smiled when she looked up to see Reid standing in front of her holding a Starbucks in his hand for her.

"Hey nerd," he said as he sat down beside her and handed her the coffee. "How was your first day?" Sam took it and drank a few sips.

"I love my classes," she stated. "How about yours?" Reid shrugged.

"They were ok. See, that's why you're the nerd. You actually _like_ going to class." Reid grabbed the book she had been reading and closed it. "You can't possibly be behind already."

Sam was in for a few years of a lot of reading. She wanted to be a journalist and was in a completely different program than her boyfriend, who was in the law program to be a lawyer. Sam thought it was funny, since Reid spent most of his time trying to break the rules, not uphold them.

"Do you want to grab something to eat?" Reid asked. Sam knew he was hungry if he was asking, so she put her book away in her bag and got up. She looked at her cell phone for the time. 4:25pm.

"Don't we have to go meet the guys?" She asked and looked down to Reid who was still sitting on the floor. He groaned as he got up.

"Can't a guy get some alone time with his girlfriend?" Sam laughed as he put his arm around her and they started walking. All of them had planned to meet up after classes that day at Sam's, and Tyler and Sarah were the last ones to get out of class. They both had taken the same English elective and got out at 4:30.

While the others all lived in the dorms, Sam got a small apartment for herself near campus. Her friends all had somewhere to go when the school year was over and Sam just wanted to avoid any unnecessary stress. On top of that, Andy needed a place to go when summer holidays started for Spencer too. It was a small one bedroom apartment (with a pull out couch for Andy when he came over) with all the necessities and Sam loved it. It was in a good neighborhood and was quiet, which was something she needed sometimes.

By the time Sam and Reid had reached her apartment, Caleb, Kate, and Pogue were all waiting in front of the building. Pogue was holding a large paper bag filled with drinks and junk food.

"Are you going to let us in or what?" Caleb called as the two of them approached.

"Don't rush me!" Sam said as she intentionally slowed down. She fished her keys out of her bag and unlocked the door to the building. They all walked up the stairs to the third floor, where Sam's apartment was, and she opened the door for them.

"Harvard. Can you believe it?" Pogue said as he put the bag down on the counter and sat down next to Kate on the couch. Sam emptied the contents of the bag onto the counter: four different bags of chips, chocolate ice cream, a 24 pack of canned soda, and bag of M&M's. Caleb grabbed the bag of M&M's from Sam's hand and ripped it open.

"Those are mine," he said as he popped a handful into his mouth. Just then they all heard a buzzing sound. Reid walked over to the little speaker on the wall near the door and pressed the 'talk' button.

"Ya?" he called, then put his finger on the 'listen' button. Tyler's voice could be heard from the speaker.

"Let us in!" Reid hit the 'door' button and held it there for a few seconds until he was sure that Tyler and Sarah had gotten in the building. He unlocked the door and left it open for them.

The seven of them stayed in Sam's apartment until almost 9pm swapping stories about their first day at Harvard and talking about their professors and schedules. It was nice to just relax with friends, but Sam was getting tired, and there was another day of school tomorrow, starting at 8 30 for her. Soon it was only Sam and Reid left in the apartment.

"Finally," Reid said as he sat down on the couch and pulled Sam down with him.

---

The first chapter! How about some reviews?


	2. Bad Dream

Disclaimer: Yet again, I do not own anything.

Well, one essay down, four to go! But I thought I'd take a break and write something I actually understand. Thanks for the reviews!

Ghosts of the Past – Bad Dream

"Stop that," Sam giggled. She was back in Ipswich for the weekend, visiting Andy with Reid. They had 'borrowed' Tyler's hummer again and were currently sitting out by the Dells. It was late and chilly out, given that it was autumn, and the two of them were sitting on a blanket near the trees by the cliff. Reid was trying to get the coffee from Sam's hand by tickling her, but it didn't seem to be working. Giving up, he leaned back and used his powers. The large cardboard cup floated right out of Sam's hand and right into Reid's.

"Cheater," she stated. Reid shrugged and downed the last of the coffee, then tossed the cup behind him. Sam shook her head and leaned against Reid. They sat silently for a few minutes just looking out beyond the cliff. Sam was about to break the silence but someone did it for her. She and Reid both looked around when they heard an ear-splitting scream echo around them.

"What the hell?" Reid asked as he got up, Sam getting up with him. "It sounded like it came from down there." Reid motioned towards the edge of the cliff, meaning he thought the sound came from below them. The both walked cautiously towards the edge and looked over. Nothing. They didn't see anyone but they heard another shriek. It definitely came from down there.

"Let's get down there," said Reid as he turned around and started walking quickly towards the hummer. Sam looked at his retreating form with a confused expression.

"Wouldn't it just be faster to jump?" She asked. Reid had no problem doing something like that, why would he hesitate now when someone might need help? He didn't answer and Sam took a last look over the cliff. Big mistake. She stood too close to the edge and the ground under her feet began to crumble and break away. She felt herself slide downward and grabbed the edge of the cliff just in time. But she was stuck, dangling over the edge.

"Reid!" She shrieked. She was met with silence. She called for him again but got no answer. Sam tried her best to calm down and concentrate. She could lift herself up using her powers if only she could concentrate. But her hands were losing grip on the edge of the cliff and she could feel herself slipping. She screamed for Reid again but it was no use. The dirt she had been clinging to broke off and she started falling. She screamed and closed her eyes as the ground rushed towards her.

---

Sam sat up straight in her bed, breathing deeply and looking around. She was in her apartment but could hardly see anything in the dark of night. She looked down beside her. Reid was on his stomach, asleep, with his arms under his pillow. Shaking, Sam pulled the covers off of her and got out of bed. She walked out of the room and went to the bathroom, careful not to make too much noise.

'_What the hell was that?'_ Sam thought to herself as she turned on the bathroom light and looked at herself in the mirror. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail but was damp with sweat. The tank top and shorts she was wearing were in the same condition. She turned on the faucet and let the cold water run through her hands before splashing some on her face. The water kept running as she dried her face and opened the cupboard to grab the Aspirin. Her head was pounding.

"You okay?" The sound of Reid's voice startled Sam and she dropped the bottle. He leaned down and picked it up for her. "What's wrong? Bad dream?" He looked like he was still half asleep as he leaned his head against the door frame.

"I don't remember," she said. It was the truth, she didn't. She tried to think. The last thing she remembered was going to bed, and then she woke up. Everything in between was a blur. She took the two capsules Reid handed her and popped them in her mouth, sipping water from the faucet and turning it off. If she couldn't remember it, Sam figured, then it must not have been too important. She took the Aspirin bottle back from Reid and put it away.

"Back to bed?" She offered. Tomorrow was Friday and they both had classes.

"Back to bed," he agreed.

---

Sam was sitting in her last class of the week, Victorian Literature. The professor was introducing the authors that they would be studying and Sam was typing furiously on her laptop. She realized early on in the week that typing her notes was a better idea than constant hand spasms. Sam kept looking at the time. Twenty more minutes until freedom. She had dinner plans with Sarah and Kate and just wanted to shut off her brain and not worry about anything. She was ahead in her readings so that she could relax over the weekend.

Sam shut down her laptop as the professor ended the lecture and practically raced out of the building. She slowed her pace as she walked outside and saw Sarah sitting on a bench waiting for her. They had planned to meet there before dinner and they still had a bit of time before Kate got out of class, so Sam took a seat next to her friend.

"How does it feel to be done your first week at Harvard?" Sarah asked cheerfully.

"Awesome!" She laughed. "I'm looking forward to a weekend of nothing except celebration. You know what?" Sarah shook her head. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever. How are things?"

Sarah laughed. "You just saw me four days ago. But I know what you mean." She put her hand to her chin in a pensive motion for effect and smiled. "Nothing really new, actually. Aside from college and a roommate from hell, that is." They both laughed. Sam had met Sarah's roommate, Lena, when she helped her friend move into the dorms. Lena was loud, messy, and moody – the complete opposite of Sarah.

"I bet you miss my annoying quirks now," said a voice from behind them. Kate was walking up to them with a slight frown on her face. "Your boyfriend," she looked at Sam and pointed an accusing finger, "is going to have to watch it or I just might…" she gestured her hands like she was choking someone.

"What did he do this time?" Sarah asked while Sam sat there laughing. Kate and Reid were in the same program so they had a few classes together.

"He was just," she clutched her fists and looked like she was having difficulties putting her thoughts into words. "_Being Reid._" This only made Sam laugh more and Sarah gave her a light shove in the arm, but couldn't help smiling a little.

"Let me guess," Sam said. "Something to do with paper balls?"

"And he was sitting right next to me!" Kate took a deep breath. "I'm ok," she said. "Let's go eat."

After dinner the three of them went for a coffee and stayed in the little coffee shop for almost three hours, just talking and laughing. When the place started to get crowded and noisy they took their leave, Sarah and Kate back to the dorms and Sam back to her apartment.

"Friday night and nothing to do," Sam mused as she reached for her keys. Reid was out with Tyler trying to find a good place to play pool, and she had no doubt that Sarah and Kate would be going out with Caleb and Pogue tonight. "Oh well."

Sam let herself into the building and walked up to the third floor. Once inside Sam dropped her bag near her desk and put her computer on top. She moved slightly to the left, where her massive bookshelf was crammed with books. "Reid's right, I am a nerd." She said to herself as she grabbed a book and sat down on the couch. She pulled a blanket over herself and began the book, losing herself in the new and mysterious world.

---

"Andy, stay away from the edge," Sam warned her little brother. She was at the Dells with everyone. They'd just come back from Nicky's and were hanging out by the cliff.

"He's fine," Tyler said from behind her, but Sam still felt uneasy. She got up off the blanked she was sharing with Kate and walked towards her brother.

"I don't like you near the edge," she said. "It freaks me out." Sam tugged his jacket lightly and he turned to face her.

"You're such a worry-wart," he joked, but stepped back, heading for the group. Sam was about to follow when the earth underneath her crumbled and she was hanging onto the cliff by her hands.

"Andy!" she screamed. When he didn't come to help her she looked down, fearing he might have fallen too. Sam called for help but no one came to her rescue. Why wasn't anyone helping her? She screamed louder but once again, her cries were met with silence. Sam felt her grip weaken and experienced the horrible sensation of falling.

CRASH

Sam awoke with a jolt. She looked around, her breathing uneven and tiny beads of sweat falling from her forehead. The book she had been reading was on the floor, along with most of the contents of her bookshelf and counters.

'_What the hell?'_ Sam got up and turned on the light and put a hand to her throbbing head. That's when she noticed the buzzing of the speaker. She looked at the time before answering. 10:14pm. "Hello?" She asked as she pressed the correct button.

"Hey, it's me," Reid's voice was heard through the machine. Sam pressed the 'door' button, letting him in. She left the door unlocked and used her powers to lift everything back into place before he came in. She regretted this when using made her head hurt worse. She quickly went to the bathroom and grabbed the Aspirin and swallowed two. Sam looked into the mirror and tried her hardest to remember what she had been dreaming about. No luck. She'd have to worry about it later.

"You didn't think I'd leave you all by your lonesome on a Friday night, did you?"

Sam wiped her face quickly and put on a smile as she left the bathroom.

"Me and Ty found a great place. Everyone's meeting us there." Reid looked at her. Sam looked tired, but looked like she was trying to hide it, so he let it go.

"Ok," she said. "Just let me change quick."

---

Well there's chapter 2! Don't forget to review!


	3. Fess Up

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously, even the shirt I'm wearing right now is my sister's.

Ok, so I'm updating a little faster than I initially anticipated. That's a good thing, right? Well, for you guys out there reading it is, for me; well let's just say I'll pay for it later. I should start a group PA: Procrastinators Anonymous.

Revy Babe: "Hello, My name is Avery, and I have a problem."

Group: "Hi Avery!"

Ok, I'm done. On with the story!

Ghosts of the Past – Fess Up

Sam woke up to the buzzing of her cell phone on her night stand. She looked at the caller ID – it was Caleb. She groaned as she rolled out of bed and flipped the phone open. It was Tuesday morning and she and Caleb had the same History class in forty minutes.

"Hey," Sam said groggily.

"I've been buzzing you for almost five minutes," said Caleb. "Everything ok?" Sam was tired. She'd been waking up in the middle of the night for the past two weeks in a cold sweat, head pounding, after having a nightmare she could never remember. She had given up going to the bathroom for the Aspirin, and just left two capsules and a glass of water on her night stand before she went to bed. Whenever Reid spent the night, she put them in the drawer so as not to worry him. Especially since he usually slept through it anyways.

"Yeah, I just stayed up too late reading," She lied. She walked to the buzzer and let Caleb in the building and then went to the bathroom for a quick shower. Caleb was looking through her book shelf when she came out, dressed and ready to go. "Coffee?" she offered, walking to the kitchen counter to grab the pot, which was on a timer and brewed a fresh pot every morning.

"Sure." Caleb looked at his watch. They still had almost half an hour. "You look tired," he commented, taking the cup she offered him.

"Thanks," Sam rolled her eyes as she poured one for herself. "I just haven't been sleeping as much as I should. That's the life of a Harvard student, right?" Caleb looked unconvinced.

"You'd tell us if something was wrong, right?"

"After everything you guys did for me and Andy, you'd be the first ones I'd go to." Sam smiled at him. She felt guilty, but she didn't want to say anything since she herself didn't know if anything was wrong. Maybe she was just having a bad dream, nothing spooky about it. "We should get going," she said as she gulped down the last of the coffee and looked at the time.

"School's right there, why would you drive here?" Sam asked when she saw Caleb's mustang parked on the street. He shrugged and smirked as he unlocked the front door.

"I like my car." Sam shook her head.

'_Boys and their toys.'_

---

Classes went by smoothly and soon it was time to go home. Sam was glad. She had dinner plans with Reid and then she planned on going straight to bed – she hoped to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. She was waiting for Reid outside his class when he and Kate came out. Sam looked up from her book and watched the two of them bicker as they walked towards her.

"I swear, Sam or no Sam, one of these days I'm going to strangle you!"

"Come on! That class is so boring. I was just spicing it up a bit."

"You were being irritating, that's what you were doing. And if Caleb knew what you did…"

"_If Caleb knew what you did,'_ Reid mimicked. "Going to go tattle on me?"

"Not this time, but watch it, mister." She lightly punched him in the arm, waved to Sam, and took her leave. Reid smiled and gave Sam a quick kiss.

"What do you feel like for dinner?" He asked. He had a look on his face. He was asking her to be nice but she knew what he wanted.

"Pizza," she said and he smiled.

"I knew you'd want pizza," he said. "It's my awesome ability to read minds."

"More like your awesome ability to manipulate," Sam chuckled and Reid gave her a mock hurt face as they walked to the pizzeria down the street. They took a seat in a booth and ordered their pizza.

"You look tired," Reid commented.

"So I've been told." Sam took a sip of her water and felt Reid's eyes on her. "I'm fine. Too much studying, that's all." She smiled sweetly at him but he kept looking at her. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, which he kept on her for a while.

"You suck at lying." He finally said.

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"Yup." Sam raised her eyebrows at his blunt answer. "I'm not stupid. I know something's wrong. You jump a mile when you wake up from whatever nightmare you keep having."

"I didn't know it woke you up," Sam said quietly.

"I was just waiting for you to tell me, but since you keep avoiding it I'm starting to think it's not good. You have a tendency to avoid things that scare you." She opened her mouth to argue but couldn't. He was right. "Talk to me."

"That's just it. I don't know what to say." Sam started fiddling with the end of the tablecloth. "I go to sleep, I have a bad dream, and I wake up with a headache."

"Is it the same dream every time?"

"I don't know. I never remember. The only thing I remember when I wake up is the feeling of being scared." After a moment Sam dropped the end of the tablecloth and looked at Reid with a smile on her face. "If it was important, I'd remember it. It's probably just me being weirded out by the whole Harvard thing. I'll be back to normal in no time," she assured.

Just then their pizza came, and so Reid had to shut his mouth to keep from saying what he was about to. He didn't completely believe it had anything to do with nerves. Their argument ended there as they ate their pizza and Sam changed the subject, wanting to talk about anything except what was happening.

"What do you keep doing to Kate?" she asked. Whenever she saw Kate after a class she had with Reid, her friend seemed agitated. Reid smirked at the question.

"I make her life interesting," he replied. Sam crossed her arms and Reid laughed. "So I might have used a little to mess with the PowerPoint presentation once in a while." He gave her an innocent look.

"And…" Sam pressed on.

"And maybe I made it sound like the projector was going to fall on Kate." He shoved the rest of the pizza he had in his hand into his mouth and smiled.

"Reid!" Sam exclaimed, trying to hide the humor behind her voice while trying to keep a straight face. Kate was paranoid that the huge projectors in class were going to fall on her one day.

"What? She's the one who keeps insisting on sitting right under it." Sam muttered something that distinctly resembled a 'yeah, right' and shook her head. "So do you want to go to Max's tonight?"

Max's was the place that he and Tyler had found a couple of weeks before. Despite how tired Sam was when she went, she'd had fun. The place reminded her of Nicky's. This had initially disturbed her a little when she thought of Nicky's. Andy was in Ipswich without her and probably going to Nicky's every weekend now that she wasn't there to stop him.

"Actually, I think I'm going to try and get some sleep," she said. They finished the pizza in silence and asked for the bill. Reid walked her home, offering to stay with her, but Sam didn't want to spoil his night.

"Go have fun. I'm sure Tyler would like to get out," she offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Completely. How much fun am I going to be? I'll be asleep."

Reid watched her go inside, then pulled out his cell phone and dialed Tyler's number. "Hey man, want to go to Max's tonight?" Sam listened to him on the phone as he walked away and then made her way up the stairs.

'_This place needs an elevator,'_ she thought sleepily as she entered her apartment and locked the door behind her. There were only five floors, and since the building was kind of old, there was no elevator. It was the one thing that Sam didn't like about her apartment.

Sam didn't even bother to change out of her clothes, or even pull the blankets back. As soon as she got into her room she laid down on her bed and fell fast asleep.

---

"How many times do I have to tell you, Andy? Stay away from the edge or I'm going to stop bringing you out here with us," Sam scolded her brother.

"What's the matter; scared I'm going to fall?"

"Yes." She said. Andy rolled his eyes and walked back towards her, pretending to walk on an invisible tight rope. "Ha ha, very funny," Sam scoffed. She took one last look over the edge of the cliff and once again felt the earth collapse under her feet. Dangling from the edge by her hands, Sam screamed for help. This time a dark figure appeared at the edge and bent down.

"Help me!" Sam pleaded. She couldn't see the face of the person and for some reason the figure's presence didn't calm Sam at all. A shadowy hand covered Sam's own, but instead of pulling her up, she felt her hand being pushed back. She tried desperately to grab at the person's hand but the figure pushed her other hand and Sam felt herself hurtling towards the ground.

CRASH

Sam heard herself cry out as she awoke. She looked out the window to the black sky and looked to her alarm clock – 11:35pm. She sat in her bed breathing heavily when she heard a knocking sound. She realized it was the front door and walked out of her bedroom.

Sam sucked in a sharp breath when she turned on the light. The contents of her bookshelf and her cupboards were spilled out on the floor. _'Great,'_ she thought to herself. _'First I can't use my powers at all, and now I'm using them in my sleep.'_

"Who is it?" Sam asked. It had to be one of the neighbors since she hadn't let any of the guys in the front door.

"It's Maureen. Is everything alright in there sweetheart?" Maureen was Sam's neighbor to the left. She was a sweet old lady who lived alone in her apartment. She'd made a point of introducing herself to Sam when she first moved in and invited Sam over for tea often, where they would chit chat about anything and nothing. Sam opened the door just a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at Maureen who was standing in the hall in her night gown with curlers in her hair.

"I heard a crashing sound," Maureen said.

"Oh." '_Crap.'_ "I was trying to move something from the top shelf and everything kind of came down. It's fine, I'm just cleaning up. Sorry to wake you." Maureen looked relieved and smiled.

"That's alright, dear. I'll see you on Sunday for tea?" she turned around and headed back to her apartment.

Sam smiled. "Of course. Good night." She closed the door behind her and looked around. Her place was a mess. Books and broken dishes everywhere.

"Screw it," she said to herself. "I'll clean it up tomorrow." She turned off the light and went back to her room, cursing as she stepped on something and turned on the light. She wasn't surprised to see her bedroom in the same condition as the rest of her apartment. The drawers of her dresser were all open and her clothes were all over the floor.

Sam looked down at what she had stepped on. It was a picture of her, Kate and Sarah at Sarah's eighteenth birthday. They were at Nicky's and they'd gotten her a cake, which was all over Sarah's face in the picture from Kate and Sam throwing it at her. They were all laughing in the picture, covered in vanilla icing.

"What the hell is happening?" Sam sighed and put the picture back on her dresser. She grabbed the bottle of Aspirin and threw it on the floor when she found it empty. She laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. From the black of her eyelids Sam saw a dark figure crouching. Here eyes snapped open and she sat up.

"I remember."

---

Well there's the next chapter, hope you liked it!

Oh, and about that whole projector thing, lol my lectures are all in huge classrooms that seat 250-400 students and the projector hangs from the ceiling in the middle. I NEVER sit under it because I'm always scared one day it's going to fall (and knowing my luck, I'll be the only one that gets hurt). I find myself staring at it sometimes wondering what would happen if it did actually fall one day…

Anyhoo, don't forget to review!


	4. Shadows of Dreams

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Anything!

Ghosts of the Past – Shadows of Dreams

Sam closed her eyes and tried to focus. '_I was hanging on the edge, and there was a guy,'_ she thought as she lied on the bed. _'But what was I doing before that? Who was that guy?'_ Unfortunately Sam didn't have much time to think about it. The headache the dream had induced combined with her constant lack of sleep made her tired and unfocused. Soon she was drifting off to sleep once again.

---

Sam awoke suddenly Wednesday to someone shaking her. She looked up, bleary-eyed, and swatted at her attacker.

"Sam, wake up! What happened?" It was Reid. Sam lifted her head off the pillow and looked at him.

"Reid?" She was still dazed and was slowly putting things together. "How did you get inside?" Sam sat up and Reid gave her a light shake, sitting down beside her.

"Sam what happened to the apartment? Things are everywhere." She looked around her room and thought back to what had happened.

"I had a bad dream," she said, still slightly dazed. Suddenly Sam remembered what she had learned about her dream and jumped off the bed. "I remembered!" she exclaimed. "I remembered part of the dream!" Before going any further, Sam looked at Reid. "How did you get in?"

"How do you think?" he was getting irritated. "I called you to see if you wanted to get lunch, and when I got here and you didn't answer the door or your phone I opened it my way. What the hell happened?" Sam couldn't help but smile a little.

"You're grouchy when you're worried," she pointed out, but Reid didn't find it funny.

"Sam!"

"I had that dream again." She glanced quickly at the clock. It was almost 1pm. '_So much for class.'_

"I thought you said you didn't remember it?"

"I didn't, until last night. I came home and went right to bed, and I woke up from the nightmare again. When I came out here everything was the way it is now. Maureen knocked on my door. I was too tired to clean it up so I just went back to bed. I swear, as soon as I closed my eyes I saw the same guy."

"What guy?" Reid asked.

"The guy from my dream."

"Did you recognize him?"

"No," Sam became quiet for a moment and sat back down. "I couldn't see his face. He was like a shadow, but I know he wasn't friendly. He pushed me off the cliff at the Dells. But I think this was the first time he's been in my dream." Reid raised his eyebrows at this. "I guess the nightmare made me lose control of my powers and everything went flying," she concluded.

"I don't think a recurring nightmare about you falling off a cliff means you have a secret desire to go bungee jumping, Sam." He was being serious, a rarity for Reid Garwin.

"Well what else could it be?" she got off the bed again and started to clean up the mess.

"The last time someone had weird nightmares it meant someone was coming to kill us," Reid pointed out.

"You can't tell the guys about this," Sam said suddenly and seriously.

"Why not?" Reid questioned. "If it's nothing then what difference does it make?"

"That's the thing, it _is nothing._ There's no point in causing a ruckus over nothing," Sam said sternly. "Everyone's adjusting to the whole college thing and there's no sense making things more stressful." Truthfully, Sam didn't want they others thinking she was crazy, or worse, she didn't want to find out that these dreams meant more then she thought. "Ok?"

"Fine," Reid relented. "But if this gets worse I'm saying something, got it?"

"You do what you have to. Now are you going to help me clean up or what?" He gave her a mischievous grin as he got up off the bed.

"Actually," he started, "I have class. I'll see you later." He gave her a kiss and moved towards the door but Sam blocked him. She looked up at him and put on her best baby face. Reid grinned as his eyes went black for a few seconds then reverted to their normal blue. "There, done, now let's go eat." Sam looked around. Her apartment was back to normal. Actually, it was cleaner than before the nightmare. She rolled her eyes.

"_I_ could have done that," she sighed.

"But your way would have taken longer, and I'm hungry."

"What about your class?"

"You know I can't go through class without food in my stomach. I'll suffer! I'll die!" he said overdramatically while playfully pushing Sam towards the door.

"I think you can survive one more class without something to eat."

"Oh, I could survive not eating," he said, "but I'd annoy Kate so much _she'd_ kill me." Sam locked the door as they walked out and headed down the street.

"Wait," she said abruptly and stopped in her tracks. She looked completely serious and Reid looked at her, waiting intently thinking it might be something to do with her dreams. She looked at him for a while before smiling. "Did the almighty Reid Garwin just admit that he could be beaten by a girl? Oh man, Kate's going to absolutely love that!" She started laughing as she began to walk again.

"No," Reid defended, "I never said that!"

"Yes you did. You said that if you didn't eat, you'd annoy Kate and she'd kill you."

"That's not what I meant."

"Mhm," Sam smiled as she walked into the dining hall, Reid trailing behind her.

---

"You're a bad influence," Sam laughed as she burrowed closer to Reid, who had his arm around her. She and Reid had decided to play hooky and were in Sam's apartment watching a movie.

"Me? You're the one who missed an entire day of classes. Maybe _you're_ the bad influence on _me._"

"Yeah, right." She turned back to the television where Matt Damon was eluding capture in The Bourne Identity. After a few moments Sam felt her eyelids get heavy and let them close.

---

Dangling. She had skipped the niceties and gone right to the part where she falls off the cliff. The shadow figure was there again, kneeling to her. He was so close she could almost see him, but an eerie darkness was attached to him.

"Help me," Sam whispered as she struggled to maintain her grip. The shadow figure leaned closer to her and grabbed her by the shirt, brining her up a few inches so that their faces were barely apart. Though they were merely centimeters away from each other, Sam still could not see his face, only his eyes Pale eyes that were full of malice.

"Actually," he said, "You're the one who's going to help _me_."

"Who are you?" Sam asked. "What do you want?"

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." With that he gave her a shove and she fell back once again off the cliff.

---

Reid looked down at Sam. She was asleep, twitching slightly. He figured that she was having another bad dream. Just then he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. The caller ID told him it was Tyler so he answered it, trying to be quiet.

"Hey."

"Hey man, we going to Max's tonight?" Reid looked at Sam.

"Uh, I don't know–" Just then Sam sat up straight and was breathing heavily. "Let me call you back," he said as he shut the phone without waiting for a response. "Are you ok?"

"I don't know." Sam looked around the room. She didn't want to lie to him but she didn't want to admit that she thought someone was messing with her head. "Yeah, I'm fine." Reid looked unconvinced. "I'm serious, I'm fine." She looked to the television screen; it was showing the end credits of the movie. She didn't think she had slept for that long.

Sam got off the couch and went to the kitchen counter to make some coffee. The last thing she wanted to do was go back to sleep just now. She looked at the calendar on the fridge.

"Hey, next week's Andy's birthday." She turned around and looked at Reid who was still on the couch. "We should go back to Ipswich," she said hopefully. He stretched his limbs and nodded his agreement. "Why don't we do something tonight? We haven't been out in a while."

"Actually," Reid said, pulling out his cell phone. "Tyler just called. He wanted to know if we wanted to go to Max's tonight."

"Great. I feel like I haven't been out in forever."

With that, Reid called Tyler and told him they'd meet him later at Max's.

---

I'm currently in the midst of writer's block…it might be a while before another chapter. But good news! I got an extension on one of my essays so I'll have lots of time to think about it and tear down the wall!

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW…they help me chisel at the wall that is writer's block.


	5. No Use Crying Over Spilt Fries

Disclaimer: I wish all of those yummy boys could be mine, but unfortunately I don't own anything…sniffs. 

It's been a while…and I only got 2 reviews last chapter! How about you make it up to me this chapter? Anyways…enjoy!

Just a little hint…some of these conversations are happening simultaneously.

Ghosts of the Past – No Use Crying Over Spilt Fries

"About time you guys showed up!" Pogue called out to his friends over the loud music. Reid, Sam and Tyler had just walked into Max's, having coincidentally arrived at the same time. The music was blaring and the place was very full considering it was a Wednesday night. Tyler and Sam sat down but Reid wanted something to eat.

"You want anything?" he asked Sam. She smiled but shook her head no so he headed to the bar.

"I don't understand how that guy isn't 400 pound by now," Sarah said as she shook her head in disbelief. "He's always eating!" Caleb and Sam both shrugged and laughed.

Tyler noticed a pool table free up just then. "Hey Sammy, want to play a game?" She looked to where he nodded and smiled.

"Well," she said, "if you really want to lose." Tyler just laughed as they headed off towards the table before anyone else could get it. Caleb and Pogue found a foosball table to play at and Sarah and Kate remained at the table. Sarah shook her head.

"How does this always happen?" she asked. "We're all here together and then all of a sudden it's just you and me." Kate looked at her friend with eyebrows raised.

"Am I such bad company?" she asked jokingly. Sarah gave her a stern look and then stuck out her tongue.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." She looked towards the dance floor that was pretty crowded and grabbed Kate's arm. "Who cares? We can have fun on our own." Kate simply laughed as she followed Sarah to the dance floor and the two danced to the fast-beat song playing.

"Hey, Max!" Reid called from the bar. The older man looked to the blond and nodded, acknowledging him. "Can I get some fries and a Coke?" Max nodded again and turned to prepare Reid's request. Reid sat on the stool and looked back at the now empty table. Scanning the room he saw Caleb and Pogue at a foosball table, talking about something, Kate and Sarah were on the dance floor, dancing and laughing, and Sam and Tyler were playing pool.

"What's up, man?" Pogue asked his friend who looked very serious about something.

"I'm not really sure," Caleb replied, keeping his voice low. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but – I don't know – I just keep getting this strange feeling." Pogue looked at him, silently urging him to continue. "I don't know, maybe I'm still getting used to all this power."

"Caleb, you ascended over a year ago," Pogue said pointedly. "I think you've got the hang of it by now, hell, even I have." Caleb still looked slightly disturbed. "Dude, you're probably still adjusting to this massive change. Relax, you're just being paranoid. We're here to have fun and unwind with our girlfriends." Caleb smirked.

"Except Baby Boy." Pogue laughed and sunk the ball in Caleb's goal, winning the game.

"Yeah, we need to find that boy a girl." Caleb grabbed the ball and started a new game, fully intending to win this time.

"I told you that you were going to lose," Sam smiled as she lined up the shot to sink the eight ball. Tyler, who was standing beside her, let his pool stick lean slightly over and brush Sam's ear. The end result was Sam flinching, missing the shot and sinking the white ball instead. 

"You were saying?" Tyler asked as he grabbed the triangle to set up a new game. Sam glared at him.

"I totally had that!" Tyler just kept smiling as he went around the table getting the balls. "You're worse than Reid," she mumbled. His peace offering was to let her break so he backed up a bit, running right into someone.

"I'm sorry," Tyler said and turned around. He'd run into a girl who dropped her fries on impact. "Really sorry," he said again as he helped her pick up the mess. Sam leaned on the pool stick, grinning as she watched the exchange. The girl was a petit little thing with red hair who only came up to Tyler's shoulder.

"That's alright, don't worry about it," girl smiled.

"Here, let me get you some more fries," Tyler offered. Sam smiled to herself. Tyler was such a gentleman.

"Oh, it's alright," she stuttered. "You don't have to."

"No, I insist. I can be a bit of a klutz sometimes." He put his stick back on the table and looked at Sam who smiled. Tyler led the girl back to the bar and ordered her some more fries, giving the money to the bartender. It was perfect timing, seeing as Reid had gotten his fries and was heading towards Sam.

"What was that about?" Reid asked, nodding towards Tyler and the girl.

"Tyler's a klutz," she said. "Spilled the girl's fries."

"Go figure," Reid said, taking a sip of his Coke. "Want to play?" he motioned to the pool table in front of them, with the triangle sill unbroken. He put his fries and drink on the edge of the table and picked up Tyler's abandoned stick.

"Not if you're going to cheat like you're brother over there." Reid laughed.

"Yeah I saw that." He came up behind Sam putting his hands on the table and trapping her between it and himself. "I taught him every conniving thing he knows," he smirked. Sam couldn't help but laugh slightly as she pushed him back.

"Just start the game. But remember," she warned. "I'm watching every move you make." Indeed, Sam had an eye on Reid the entire game, and even though she never saw him use, he still managed to kick her butt.

"I need a drink!" Sarah yelled to Kate. She nodded and the two of them made their way to the bar and each got bottled water. They sat at the bar for a moment and Kate noticed Tyler at the other end talking to some red head. They were sitting and smiling, talking about something or other, picking at a basket of fries. Sarah hadn't seen it and walked back to the table, Kate following soon behind. Just as they sat at the table, Caleb and Pogue came over, as did Sam and Reid.

"Where'd Baby Boy run off to?" Caleb questioned.

"He's at the bar flirting with some red head," Kate answered.

"Still?" Sam asked and the others looked at her. "He spill some girl's fries and offered to get her more – like half an hour ago."

"Well it's about time he got himself a girl," Reid stated and leaned his arm on the back of Sam's chair.

"That boy's too shy for his own damn good," Pogue conceded.

"How did that happen?" Sarah asked. "He's been hanging out with you three his whole life."

"I bet that's why," Kate laughed. "These three probably never let the poor guy ever get a word in." Sam and Sarah laughed while the boys just rolled their eyes. That was when Tyler decided to rejoin the group. He gave a nervous glance at the six occupants of the table as he took his seat. They were all staring at him with grins on their faces.

"What?" he asked.

"Who's the girl?" Leave it to Reid to cut to the chase.

"Just a girl," Tyler replied nonchalantly, taking a sip from Reid's Coke.

"Whose name is…" Pogue continued. None of them were going to let him get away without talking about her.

"Alex."

"And what do we know about Alex?" Caleb's turn.

"_We_ don't know anything about Alex. _I,_ on the other hand, found out quite a bit." He leaned back in his chair and smirked. Caleb looked at Tyler, eyebrows raised. He couldn't believe Baby Boy had just said that to him. Tyler _never_ hid anything from Caleb.

"Aw come on, Ty! We're just curious," Kate said sweetly.

"Yeah, Tyler. We just want to make sure she's not some psycho serial killer or something," Sam said equally as sweet as Kate.

"What is this?" Tyler laughed. "Gang up on Tyler day?"

"It's a national holiday,' Reid said. "Now spill."

"Very funny," he said.

"Good for you, Ty." Caleb looked incredulously over at his girlfriend. "What?" Sarah said. "It's about time he stood up to you three. Leave him alone."

"Thank you!" Tyler laughed as he got up. "Now if you don't mind, it's getting late and I have an eight o'clock class tomorrow." He grabbed his jacket off his chair and headed for the door, leaving the three couples chuckling behind him.

---

It's not a romance but I couldn't help it. It was too much fun : )

NOW! Hit the REVIEW button and leave one! I will not take no for an answer.


	6. Trouble in Paradise

Disclaimer: Nope…Still don't own anything.

Sorry this took so long. I finally finished my essays and then was completely unmotivated to go anywhere near the computer for a while.

Ghosts of the Past – Trouble in Paradise

Sam awoke, breathing heavily and sweating slightly. '_Damn it!'_ she cursed. Her head was pounding as she reached over to her nightstand for the Aspirin. '_This has got to stop.'_ She sat up as she downed the water and looked around her room. It was still dark outside so she decided to settle back into the pillow. Sam lay on her back for a few moments awaiting sleep, but it never came. She sighed as she looked over Reid's sleeping form and at the alarm clock.

6:02am.

Sam realized that she was never going to get back to sleep so she slipped quietly out of the room to the kitchen. She turned on the coffee machine and hopped up on the counter while it brewed. She stared at the small device while thinking about her dream.

The shadow figure was there again. She'd been at the Dells with Andy and everyone and just as she always had, she'd gotten too close to the edge and fallen. Why didn't anyone come for her when she called out to them? The shadow man had answered that for her…

_Flashback_

Sam was dangling off the edge of the cliff, staring into the eyes of the shadow figure. "Reid! Caleb! Tyler! Pogue! Anybody!" she screamed. The figure just smiled an evil smile at her.

"Don't you get it yet? They're never going to help you," he sneered. "They don't want to help you. Just give it up."

"What do you want from me?"

"Like I said, sweetheart, you're going to help me."

"Then tell me what you want! Why keep doing this?" Sam pleaded.

"It's more fun watching you squirm," he laughed as he pushed her back.

_End Flashback_

That's when she's woken up, like she always did, just before she hit the ground. Sam sighed and jumped off the counter when the coffee was done. Pouring herself a cup, she looked at the calendar. It was Saturday, Andy's birthday. They were all going back to Ipswich for the day, partially to wish Andy Happy Birthday and partially because some of the guys, to be more specific, Tyler and Kate, were a little homesick.

Once Sam finished her coffee she decided to take a quick shower and get her things ready to go. She felt like a zombie as she got ready for the day. She didn't even notice the buzzing and only realized someone was there when she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around herself and one around her hair.

Sam let out a surprised cry and clutched her towel as she opened the bathroom door to find Tyler standing near the entrance. When her brain finally caught up with her heart rate she realized that it was _way_ too early for him to be there yet. They had decided to get an early start, but this was a little much.

"What are you doing here?" Sam whispered, unaware that Reid was already awake and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Aren't we going to Ipswich?" Tyler questioned, taking off his shoes and heading for the couch. Sam padded towards the living room area and nearly had another heart attack when she rounded the corner and almost ran into Reid.

"Damn it! Why do people keep doing that?" Reid and Tyler only laughed. "And isn't it a little early to be going?"

"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked. "It's almost seven thirty. Isn't everyone meeting us here at eight?" Sam nodded her head as she looked at the clock. Indeed, it was almost seven thirty.

"Eight? You mean I could still be sleeping?" Reid said aghast. Sam rolled her eyes at him. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "I don't need an hour in the shower like some people."

"Oh shut up," Sam said, taking the towel off her hair and tossing it at him, getting it right on his head. A muffled '_hey'_ could be heard as she walked into her room and closed the door behind her. Picking out a simple outfit, Sam changed and quickly did her hair and makeup and emerged from her room ten minutes later. Tyler was sitting alone, watching TV and sipping a cup of coffee. Judging by the sound of running water Sam guessed Reid was in the shower.

"So what's the plan for today?" Tyler asked, looking away from the TV. Sam looked at the screen and nearly spilled the second cup of coffee she was pouring.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked, bursting into a fit of giggles. There, on the television screen, was the cartoon Caped Crusader himself, Batman. Tyler looked at Sam like she was crazy for even asking. Sure, Batman was Sam's favorite superhero, but Tyler was almost nineteen years old for Pete's sake!

"What?" Came his innocent reply. "Saturday morning cartoons!" Sam shook her head while she sat down on the couch and propped her feet on Tyler's lap.

"So does Alex know about your Saturday morning fetish?" he turned a noticeable shade of red at the mention of her. He'd seen Alex a few times around campus since their meeting at Max's and he was still a bit shy about it. "Aw come on, Ty! When are you going to tell me what's going on?" Tyler had been awfully secretive about Alex, not mentioning her and changing the topic when one of them teased him.

"I just don't want to jinx anything," he said, and changed the subject like he always did. "So what's on the itinerary for today?" Sam pouted but couldn't help the smile that found its way onto her face.

"Well I don't know about everyone else, but I was planning on hanging out with Andy. Then I thought maybe later we could go to Nicky's or something."

"Sounds good," Tyler said as he downed the last of his coffee. Just then the buzzer began to make more noise and Sam looked at the clock. Ten 'til eight.

Sam didn't even bother to get up. She concentrated slightly on the buzzer and mentally hit the 'door' button. She didn't have to bother to ask who it was since she knew at this time it would be one of the guys. Tyler gave her a funny look.

"What?" it was her turn to play innocent. "I'm comfortable." She unlocked her door from her seat and turned to the TV to watch Batman put the sleeper on the Joker. Tyler shook his head and did the same.

"Ok, who are we missing?" Caleb asked from the kitchen counter. They had sorted out the traveling arrangements. Caleb, Sarah, Pogue and Kate were going in Caleb's Mustang while Sam, Reid and Tyler were going in Tyler's Hummer. They were all planning on coming back that night so there was no use in taking too many vehicles.

"Pogue and Kate," Sarah said from the couch. "And where's Reid?" Sam shook her head. He was still in the shower.

"I can't wait to get my gas bill," she laughed as she walked to the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet. A loud yell from the bathroom made the four occupants of the living room/kitchen burst into laughter. Kate and Pogue arrived a few minutes later and Reid emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and wearing a disgruntled look on his face.

"Not funny," he said, looking at Caleb. The brunet smiled and shook his head.

"Don't look at me, man," he said and pointed in Sam's direction. She gave an innocent smile and then ushered everyone out of the apartment.

---

Sam was sitting in Andy's dorm room waiting for him to finish getting dressed. They had spent the better part of the day together and now they were going to meet everyone at Nicky's.

"Come on, Andy! You're worse than a girl!" Sam called and sighed. He was in the bathroom 'fixing his hair,' as he put it. It was probably a new habit he had picked up from his new friends.

Sam was also waiting to give Andy his birthday present. They had gone to lunch and spent a lot of time together but she still hadn't given it to him. She held the small box in her hands thinking about what the small item meant to her, and what she knew it would mean to her little brother.

Andy finally came out of the bathroom, looking almost the same as he did before, only with his curly brown hair looking a little more gelled.

"It took you that long to do _that_?" Sam asked sarcastically. "Let me guess, it's a guy thing?" Andy smiled and nodded his head then headed for the door. "Wait a second; I still have to give you your present." Sam held out the small box wrapped in navy blue paper with a small folded paper on top. Andy took the box and opened the note.

"Happy Birthday, Love Sam." He read aloud the only words on the paper and smirked at his sister.

"And I really mean it," Sam laughed.

Andy pealed back the blue paper and lifted the lid off of the box and reached inside. He pulled out an old watch that was ticking quietly and looked a little worn out on the edges. He held out the all too familiar gadget and looked at Sam.

"It was dad's," she said, confirming Andy's suspicions. "I took it that day Matt and I left." The watch was indeed Tomas Proctor's, and he had worn it every day since before Sam could remember. When he died, Rebecca Proctor had hidden it away, but Sam had found it and taken it with her when she and her brother Matt escaped their house. Andy was quite a bit younger than Sam, and although she was sure he remembered their father, she still wanted to give him this little memento of him.

"Wow, Sam, thanks," Andy said and reached over to hug her. He fumbled a bit while trying to put it on so Sam took mercy on him and did it for him.

"I thought you might like that."

"I really do, thanks," Andy smiled and got up. "Shall we?" they had decided to walk to Nicky's, since it still wasn't too dark out and it would give them some more time together.

---

Nicky's was packed, as usual and when Andy and Sam walked in they had to maneuver around a bit before they found their friends at a table talking and laughing. The siblings took two empty seats around the table and greeted everyone.

"Hey! Happy Birthday Andy!" Sarah and Kate said in unison with smiles on their faces.

"Thanks," Andy replied. Pogue clapped him on the shoulder from his seat beside Andy.

"The big 1 5. You know, when I was fifteen –" Everyone at the table groaned and Kate placed a hand over her boyfriend's mouth.

"Sorry, baby, but we don't need any stories about your lost youth," she said. "And I don't think Sam needs you filling Andy's head with ideas about your trouble-making days." Pogue playfully pouted and licked Kate's hand, which she promptly moved while making a disgusted sound. They all laughed as Kate wiped her hand on Pogue's jacket.

"Where're Reid and Tyler?" Sam asked, noticing that the two of them were not at the table. She had an idea of where they were, though.

"Where else?" Caleb stated and nodded towards the pool tables. Sam turned her head around quickly to catch a glance. She felt her heart drop slightly as she saw two twenty-dollar bills hit the table, and watched Reid line up a shot. She watched his eyes flash quickly as he made the shot and won the game, taking the forty dollars and putting it in his pocket.

What made Sam's heart drop was Reid's opponent, none other than Aaron Abbott himself. Apparently he was home for the weekend too, and the two of them playing pool always led to trouble.

Sam couldn't hear what was being said, but she watched as Aaron and Reid started mouthing off to each other. As if on cue, Aaron shoved Reid and he pushed Aaron back into a table, knocking drinks around with a clatter. One of Aaron's cronies shoved Reid from behind and the four boys smashed their way through the crowd, out the back door of Nicky's.

"Caleb," Sam said, getting the older boy's attention and looking back to where the fight had just exited. Caleb and Pogue got up, as did Sam. "Stay here," she told Andy and walked towards the back of the bar behind the other two, while Sarah and Kate stayed with Andy.

By the time the three of them got outside Reid and Aaron were already throwing punches while Tyler and Aaron's buddy were ready to start doing the same. Reid and Aaron went running into the stack of empty bottles and were still attacking each other when Caleb yelled for them to stop. Sam walked up behind Tyler and grabbed onto his sweater to keep him from doing anything to Aaron's friend while Caleb and Pogue went to pry Reid off of Aaron.

Pogue grabbed a hold of Reid while Caleb pulled Aaron away while he was still thrashing around.

"Get off me!" Aaron yelled, turning around and punching Caleb right in the face. As he stumbled back Nicky came out of the door sporting his famous baseball bat.

"What's the problem here?" he boomed.

"No problem here, Nicky," Pogue said quickly as he kept a firm grasp on Reid. Aaron and his friend walked out front while Nicky went back inside with his bat. The five of them were silent for a few moments before Caleb broke it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, looking at Reid. "We're back for what? Twelve hours and you have to start that crap with him?"

"Spare me the lecture, Caleb," Reid retorted and forcefully pulled his arm out of Pogue's grasp.

"Let me guess, you used your powers to win the game and that's when Aaron got pissed," Caleb pressed on. "When are you going stop this?" Caleb moved towards Reid but he shoved Caleb back when he got close enough. "You're killing yourself, Reid, and every time you use like today you risk exposing us! When are you going to grow up?"

"Grow up? You mean like you?" Reid snapped back. "Fearless leader, right? Too damn scared to actually do anything." Caleb took another step towards Reid but that was a mistake. Reid's eye turned pitch black and Caleb was sent several feet backwards, landing near Tyler and Sam. He quickly got up and his eyes turned as black as night.

"Remember how this turned out last time Reid? I think I won!" Caleb sent a wave of energy at Reid which he blocked with his own wave.

"Guys! Both of you stop it!" Sam yelled. She went to move in between them but Tyler held her back and gave her a look that told her it was too dangerous. Reid and Caleb both stood in their spots staring at each other, silently willing the other to make another move. At the exact same moment the two of them sent more energy at each other that crashed in the middle creating a bright light that lasted a few seconds.

"Guys, stop!" Pogue warned. "Don't do this here, there're too many people close by." But it was no use; the two of them weren't paying attention to anything other then their challenger. They gathered more energy and prepared to send them but Sam got around Tyler and walked in between Caleb and Reid just as they sent their energy flying.

Sam closed her eyes and lucky for her both Caleb and Reid had complete control over their powers and were able to stop the energy before it hit her. She opened her eyes and looked around at the guys. Pogue's eyes were wide in shock while Tyler had begun to run towards her. Caleb and Reid's eyes were back to their normal brown and blue and their expressions were those of pure shock and fear.

"I think it's time we went home," Sam said finally and walked back into Nicky's. Tyler was the next to recover and went inside after Sam, followed by Pogue who stopped before he went inside.

"The two of you need to stop this," he said. "Caleb, you need to stop hounding Reid about this, you've told him this a million times. And Reid, you have to stop thinking Caleb's out to get you. We're brothers, so start acting like it." With that, Pogue walked inside, leaving Caleb and Reid standing in their spots. Neither of them said anything, instead they walked in after their friends.

The ride home was beyond uncomfortable, but Sam sat silently in the back seat and didn't try to make conversation. Tyler and Reid were in the front and every once in a while Sam caught Tyler giving her a concerned glance in the rear-view mirror.

Tyler stopped his hummer outside Sam's apartment. She said goodnight, got out of the hummer and disappeared into the building. Tyler moved to shift into drive, but Reid stopped him by opening his door.

"I'll catch ya tomorrow or something," he said quickly and ran into the building. Tyler shook his head and drove away.

Sam entered her apartment and closed the door behind her. Walking to the kitchen she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. Caleb's words filled her head. _'You're killing yourself, Reid.'_ Sam knew of the consequences of the guys using their powers too much, but she didn't completely understand the extent of it. She often found herself wondering if her powers came with a similar consequence. She wasn't able to delve further into the thought, however, because there was a sound at her door.

"Come on, Sam. Open up." It was Reid. Sam put the cup down on the counter and opened the door, moving aside so he could enter.

"Reid, it's late. I just want to go to bed."

"Don't be mad. We wouldn't have hurt you."

"No, you would have hurt each other." Sam sighed and leaned against the counter. "I'm not mad, Reid, I'm tired." She took a sip of her water and looked at him again. "Was Caleb really that serious?"

"What?"

"He said you were killing yourself. How bad does this get?" Reid shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"So now you're going to start on me too?" he asked.

"No, I'm trying to understand. If it really is that bad then why do you keep using for stupid things? You know you could beat Aaron in pool no problem, why would you need to use?"

"You sound like Caleb," Reid snapped.

"Reid, please, just talk to me," Sam pleaded.

"You mean the way you talk to me?" Sam was taken aback by this. "You want me to talk to you? How about you talk to me about these dreams you keep having."

"I – I already told you…" Sam stammered.

"No you didn't, not everything." Sam didn't know what to say and just looked at the glass of water in her hands. "Forget it," she heard him say. She looked up to see him walking out the door.

"Reid, wait!" Sam called, but he was already gone.

---

Again, I apologize for the long wait. I finally got over my fear of the computer but the chapter took me longer to write than I had hoped. Anyways, don't forget to hit that review button! It motivates me to not take so long.


	7. Tensions

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

There is absolutely no excuse for my behavior. I should have updated this a LONG time ago. All I can do now is apologize profusely and hope to someday be forgiven.

IM SORRY!! IM REALLY, _REALLY_ SORRY!

Ghosts of the Past – Tensions

Sam woke up to her alarm clock blaring and she swung her hand out to stop the intrusive noise. As soon as her hand collided with the button Sam shot up out of bed. The clock showed that it was 7:30 in the morning. The last thing Sam remembered was going to bed after spending the rest of her weekend anywhere but her apartment. She didn't feel like talking to anyone after what had happened back in Ipswich or her later fight with Reid, and she knew that they would probably come by her place when she didn't answer the phone. Sam had walked around the city all day doing absolutely nothing. But that was all she had remembered. She hadn't woken up during the night.

No nightmare.

For the first time in weeks, Sam was nightmare-free.

"Go figure," she mumbled to herself as she got out of bed. "First good night's sleep in weeks and it happens when I get into a fight."

Sam got ready for class quickly and left her apartment, intending to get a huge cup of coffee on her way. She realized that she was a bit early for class and decided to pull out her book and sit on the bench outside the classroom. Sam imagined that she would be doing this quite a bit, seeing as how she was trying to avoid pretty much everyone.

She was angry. She'd had time to mull over things on her long walk around the city. Sam wasn't quite sure exactly what she was mad at, perhaps just the situation, but she was mad. She needed time to figure out exactly what was going on inside her own brain before she could try and discuss it with someone else. Reid had been right. She didn't tell him everything and she didn't even really know why. That's how confused Sam was.

Sam checked her phone for the time and noticed she had a new message. She had a few more minutes before class started so she went inside to get a seat and dialed her voicemail number. After punching in her password she put her ear to the phone and listened.

"Hey Sam, it's Sarah. I know you're feeling a little weird right now so give me a call. We can talk."

Sam knew Sarah was trying to help, but she still didn't want to talk about it just yet. She deleted the message and put her phone away and waited for the professor to start class. More and more students began to file into the classroom but Sam didn't pay attention, instead she pulled out her laptop and a thin booklet of paper.

"How did your assignment turn out?" a strange voice questioned from beside Sam. She looked up at a boy she'd never seen before, with sandy hair, blue eyes and a bright smile. "I pulled an all-nighter to finish mine. Not my best work, but I think I can pull off at least a C."

"I finished mine last week. I'm paranoid that way. I finished it early but I'm still not convinced it's good enough." Sam immediately felt comfortable around this guy. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had nothing to do with her life. He didn't know about her secret or about the problems it caused. "I'm Sam."

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me," he apologized. "I'm Adam." The professor began the class and called for everyone to hand in their assignments. "Well there's no sense in both of us walking down there," Adam smiled. Sam handed him her assignment and gave her thanks. Once everyone was back in their seats the professor started the lecture.

---

After class Sam and Adam got a coffee and talked about school.

"So why English?" Adam asked as they both sat on a bench outside their next class. They discovered that they had a few classes together, as they were both in the same program.

"I want to be a journalist," Sam answered and took a sip of her coffee. "What about you?"

"Professor," he said. "I want to teach here someday."

"That's cool," Sam said. She looked down at her phone for the time and realized she had more missed calls. Tyler, Sarah and Kate. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've got to get going." She got up off the bench and Adam stood up with her.

"Class isn't for another half an hour," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't think I'm up for it. I didn't get much sleep last night," Sam lied. While she did get her first good night's sleep in weeks, she was starting to feel drained, and she figured she should probably start calling people back so that they wouldn't worry. Considering the nature of the conversations she was going to have, she didn't think a public place might be appropriate to talk.

"Alright," Adam said. "I'll make a copy of my notes for you."

"Thanks," Sam said. "I really appreciate it." She liked Adam. He was very friendly considering they just met. Under most circumstances, Sam might have thought that it was suspicious, but somehow it seemed normal to her. She flashed him a smile and headed back to her apartment.

---

"Aren't you even going to call her and see if she's ok?" Tyler asked his blond friend who was sitting on his bed.

"She's fine," came Reid's blunt reply.

"I don't know," Tyler said. "I've been calling her all day and she hasn't answered once." He was worried about Sam. Tyler knew that Reid was too, but to get that guy to show any kind of concern or emotion other than anger was a rare and tricky thing.

"Maybe that's because she doesn't want to talk to you," Reid said, lying back onto the bed with his hands under his head and his eyes closed. "Anyways, she's made it very clear that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"Have you even talked to her since Saturday night?" Tyler questioned. Reid didn't answer and Tyler got his answer. "What happened?"

"Drop it, Baby Boy. There's nothing to talk about."

"You know, you should really –"

"Listen, if I wanted to be lectured at, I would've gone to Caleb." Reid sat up on the bed and glared at Tyler. The younger boy held his hands up in defense.

"Fine, dude. Just trying to help."

"Well, don't."

"Fine," Tyler said again and sat down at his desk. The two of them sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Tyler's phone began to ring. He picked it up and looked at the caller id. As soon as he saw the name he looked at Reid. "It's Sam."

Reid got up off the bed and grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

"I'll see you later," he said as he left his friend's room. Tyler shook his head and flipped the phone open.

---

Once safely inside her apartment, Sam dropped all of her school stuff carefully by her desk and grabbed her cell phone again. She checked the last number that had called her, Tyler's, and clicked the 'send' button to dial his number. After a few rings, he picked up the phone.

"I was getting worried," was the first thing out of his mouth, and he sounded it too.

"Sorry," Sam said apologetically. "Just trying to figure stuff out." She'd always been able to be honest with Tyler and found it easy to talk to him.

"Still," he said sternly. "Everyone's been worried." It was strange for Sam to hear him sound so grown up, and it made her feel guilty for avoiding everyone.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been a little freaked out, after what happened and all." There was an awkward silence after that statement and Sam couldn't bare it. "So how is everyone?" She said 'everyone' but Tyler knew she was asking about Reid.

"Well if you hadn't been avoiding us…" Tyler started.

"Oh, shut up," Sam said. "Seriously. Is he still mad at me?"

"I thought _you_ were mad at _him_?" Tyler questioned.

"I am!" Sam said sternly, and then sighed. "It's complicated."

"It's Reid. When is it NOT complicated?" Sam let out a little laugh at his comment. "But seriously, I think you should call him."

"Why?" Sam challenged. "He hasn't called me. And he was the one being a jerk." Tyler shook his head.

"You two are both so damn stubborn. You're playing ring-around-the-rosie, Sammy. If neither of you is willing to take the first step then how is anything going to get fixed?" Sam sat silently with the phone to her ear. Tyler was making sense, but she was still mad at Reid. "Come on, Sam. Be the bigger person."

"Are you calling me fat?" Sam joked.

"Sam!" Tyler said firmly. He wasn't going to let her get out of this with a joke.

"Fine! Jeez, Ty. I'll think about it." Tyler wasn't completely satisfied, but he'd take what he could get.

"Good, now go think. I'll call you later. I've got class."

"Bye."

Sam shut the phone and looked at the time. It was almost lunchtime and she knew that Caleb would have a nice long break, and she had some questions she wanted to ask. She could have asked Tyler but she thought that Caleb might give her the straight, serious answers. Ty might try and sugar coat things for Reid's sake, and Sam didn't want that. She wanted answers before she tried to confront Reid again. Flipping her cell phone open again she dialed Caleb's number and waited for him to answer.

---

One hour later Sam was sitting across from Caleb at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee gripped tightly in her hands. He'd explained everything, and hadn't left anything out like Reid had.

"It's that bad?" she asked quietly. Caleb nodded his head seriously, but had concern written all over his face. He was questioning whether he should have told her_ everything_, as it seemed to have really upset her. "I'm fine," Sam said, almost like she was reading his mind. "I wanted to know."

"I'm not going to lie to you Sam. Reid's pretty hooked." Sam nodded and waited for Caleb to continue. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. You tried to talk to him about it and he freaked on you. Maybe he said something about sounding just like me?" Sam nodded her head again.

"I just don't get why he gets so mad. We're just trying to help…"

"He's stubborn, Sam. It's a Garwin trait. To be honest with you, I don't think he really gets it. I mean, he knows what will happen, but I don't think it really sinks in to him." Caleb continued, "He avoids it because it's easier that way. Talking about it complicates things and if you hadn't noticed, Reid's not the easiest person to have a serious conversation with."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Duh." Caleb smirked.

"Listen," Caleb became serious again. "I know it's hard. Trust me, I've been trying to get through to him for years, but you care about him, right?" Sam nodded her head. "Then you can't let him win and shut you out."

Just then Caleb's phone went off. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Sarah, so he flipped it open.

"I'll call you right back," he said quickly and then shut the phone again without waiting for a response. He looked at Sam, who was getting up and putting her cup into the sink.

"It's ok. Go," she said simply. "I got what I needed. Tell Sarah I'll call her tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He nodded his head and got up, heading for the door. "Thanks, Caleb." Sam said before he was completely gone. He turned and smiled before closing the door.

---

Sam was lying on the couch a few hours later contemplating everything Caleb had told her. She wondered how to talk to Reid about it. He and Caleb had been friends their whole lives, and even he couldn't get Reid to stop being so reckless. She'd known him just over a year. _'How the hell am I supposed to do anything?'_ she questioned herself. Normal couples were supposed to be able to talk through big issued. '_But then again, in what way are Reid and I _normal_?'_

Sam was contemplating that very question when she felt a wave of drowsiness fall over her. Instead of fighting it, she gladly gave in to the call of sleep, hoping it would ease her mind just for a little while.

But then again, Sam wasn't a very lucky girl.

There she was, falling again and, once again she woke up just before she hit the ground.

But that wasn't the end of it. Sam looked in the direction of her desk, where a dark figure was standing. But not just any dark figure, _the_ dark figure.

"I – I'm still dreaming," she stuttered. The man was still impossible to see. It was almost as if darkness had wrapped itself around him, hiding him from her.

"Trust me, sweetheart. You're definitely not dreaming anymore."

---

DUN! DUN! DUN!

Again… I AM SO SORRY this took that long… I hope this chapter was good :)


	8. Dangerous Encounters

Disclaimer: though I've tried, though I've yelled and kicked and screamed….they still wont give me anything so I still don't own anything. tear

Ghosts of the Past – Dangerous Encounters

Sam jumped off the couch and ran for the light switch. It was dark out and she was sure that she was still dreaming. Something stopped her just before she switch something yanked her violently back, causing her to fall face first into the floor.

"No, no, no," said the Shadow. "You've been trying to sneak a peak at me for a long time, but it's not going to be that easy." He was kneeling beside Sam, holding her down into the ground. "I told you that you were going to help me, and look, here I am."

"I don't get it. How did I help you?" She was trying her hardest to concentrate, to muster up some amount of energy to help her out of this situation, but she was too weak. It was as if she had suddenly been drained of all of her energy.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend," the Shadow grumbled dangerously close to her ear. Sam could feel his hot breath on her face as she struggled to free herself.

"What does Reid have to do with this?" Sam tried again to use her powers but nothing moved. He was doing something. "What did you do to me?" He chuckled menacingly.

"You're a smart girl, Sammy. I'm sure you'll figure it out." With one last shove, he was gone. Sam felt herself be released from whatever grasp she was in and jumped up off the floor and ran to the light switch. As soon as she flipped the switch she looked around her apartment.

It was empty.

Grabbing a glass of cold water, Sam sat down at her kitchen table. She was shaken up and couldn't get her heart to stop pounding. Her first instinct was to call Reid, but wasn't sure if she should. First of all, they were in a fight and secondly, the Shadow had mentioned him specifically. Sam kept wondering what Reid could possible have to do with the man and her dreams. What frightened her even more was the absence of her powers. How she was supposed to protect herself? She felt drained, and all Sam could think about was sleep, but she was scared. She sat at her table contemplating what had happened and debating what to do. She'd sat there for so long that she'd lost track of time completely.

"Screw it," she mumbled to herself as she picked up her cell phone and dialed Reid's number.

---

Despite the fact that it was almost one in the morning on a school night, Reid was wide awake listening to his roommate snoring away. Growling, he pulled his pillow over his head to drown out the damn noise but still couldn't fall asleep. Though he'd never let anyone know it, he was bothered by the fact that he hadn't so much as talked to Sam in days. But he didn't know what to say, and he sure wasn't going to apologize. Forcing himself to stop thinking, Reid pulled his face out from under his pillow and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, right when Reid thought that he might actually get some sleep, he was disturbed by the sudden vibrating of his cell phone on the night stand.

Growling at the small device Reid picked it up and looked at the name on the front screen. Sam. Still not really knowing what to say, Reid flipped the phone open. "Hi," he said quietly. He sat up in his bed and waited for her reply. Her breathing was shaky and he immediately knew something was wrong. "Another nightmare?" he asked and laid back down on his bed. He looked over to his sleeping roommate and wished he was asleep.

"Worse," came Sam's shaky reply.

---

"Are you ok?" Reid asked as he came through the door of Sam's apartment, practically breaking it down. He walked quickly around the small living space inspecting every corner for the intruder.

"I'm fine," Sam said quietly as she closed the door. She'd been saying that quite often lately, and she doubted herself more and more each time she said it. Confused, angry and scared, Sam sat defeated on the couch and tried to hold back her tears.

"No you're not," Reid said standing across from her.

"No, I'm not," Sam admitted. "I don't know what's happening."

"Let's start with what happened today." Reid was being extremely rational. It would have unnerved Sam if she hadn't already been freaked out.

"I came back from class early and fell asleep on the couch. Then I had another nightmare and woke up, but it didn't end."

"What do you mean?"

"He was here, the guy from my dream. He was in the apartment and he attacked me." Reid was having difficulties containing himself. Sam could tell he was getting angry. His fists were balled up, almost white, and his jaw was clenched. "He said that I helped him. He's said that before, in my dream – that I was going to help him."

"You helped him?" Reid asked astounded.

"I don't know!" Sam defended. "He kept saying that I was going to help him and then when he was here he said that I did, but I don't know what I did. I think," Sam faltered here. "I think he stole my powers or something."

"What?"

"I tried to use me powers against him but they wouldn't work."

"What about now?"

"I tried, nothing happens." They sat in silence for a few minutes, each mulling over everything that had happened. "Reid," Sam whispered. He looked at her. "I'm scared. What's happening?"

"I don't know," he lied as he sat down next to Sam. He had a few ideas but wasn't ready to share them with her just yet. "Listen, I'll stay here with you tonight, but tomorrow you've got to go to class. Stay at school all day until we can figure something out, alright?" Sam nodded her head.

"I'm sorry we fought," Sam mumbled. Reid put his arm around her she leaned into him.

"I know," he said. "Me too." Reid didn't know what Sam was doing to him. This girl was starting the change him and he was thinking about this metamorphosis while he and Sam fell asleep on the couch.

It was early morning when Reid woke up. Sam was in the kitchen making coffee and getting ready for class.

"I'll drop you off at class and I'll pick you up later when they're over," Reid said and took the cup of coffee Sam offered him. "Try not to stay by yourself." They finished their morning coffees and left Sam's place.

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked when Reid dropped her off at her first class.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'm just going to try and work some of this out."

"Reid…"

"Don't worry," he interrupted her would-be argument. "I won't do anything stupid." Sam laughed at this.

"Yeah, like _that's_ reassuring."

---

After dropping Sam off at class Reid went right to work. Whipping out his cell phone he dialed Tyler's familiar number. It rang once, twice, thrice…

"What's up?" Tyler's voice sounded on the other end.

"Something's happening; we need to meet the guys." Reid wasn't wasting any time. He was starting to strongly believe in his theory, and it wasn't a good one.

"What happened?" Tyler sounded worried.

"I'll explain in a bit. Call Caleb and tell him to meet us at Sam's. I'll call Pogue." This made Tyler worry more.

"Is she ok?"

"Yeah, Sam's fine." Reid hung up the phone. "For now." He opened his phone again and dialed Pogue's number, telling him the same thing he told Tyler. Reid walked up to Sam's apartment twenty minutes later, noting that Caleb's and Tyler's cars were already there, as well as Pogue's bike. Walking into the apartment, he looked at his brothers seated around the kitchen table. They all looked at him as he entered. Caleb looked doubtful of Reid's intentions, while Tyler and Pogue seemed worried.

"What's going on, Reid?" asked the ever fearless leader.

"I think Chase is back."

---

Sorry it's short, but I've been sick and my eyes are burning from staring at the computer all week. Let me know…


	9. Paranoia

Disclaimer: After checking my pockets…I still don't own anything.

It might be late but its still August 17th! Well here is part one of my apology!

Ghosts of the Past – Paranoia

"What are you talking about?" Caleb asked as he stood up. The disgruntled look on his face made it obvious to Reid that Caleb was not impressed with hat he thought was a false alarm. "Chase is gone," Caleb said with a note of finality. "You know that."

"No," replied Reid with a hint of rebellion in his voice. "We don't know that Chase is gone because no one ever saw a body." He folded is arms over his chest and looked at Caleb with an expression that dared Caleb to contradict him.

"How do you know Chase is back?" Pogue asked, attempting to release some of the tension in the forever shrinking apartment. There was a pause as Reid hesitated.

"Things Sam's been telling me lately, about dreams she's been having," he said finally. He knew that Sam would be upset that he'd gone to the guys behind her back, but Reid didn't care. He was going to do something about it if she wasn't. the others gave Reid a confused look, obviously oblivious to what had been happening, so he continued.

"For weeks now Sam's been having these weird dreams. At first she couldn't remember them, but the more she had them the more she began to remember. When she finally told me about them she mentioned this strange guy that kept appearing. She said she could never see his face, but he always ended up killing her."

Reid paused for a moment and looked around the table. Caleb had taken his seat and his look of irritation had faded into concern as Reid continued.

"Last night Sam said that when she woke up from her nightmare that the guy had been in the apartment and that he said that he knew she'd help him."

"What do you mean, 'help him'?" Tyler asked.

"Sam didn't know but she said that in the nightmares the guy always said that she was going to help him before he killed her."

There was a lingering silence as everyone in the kitchen considered what Reid had just told them. It would have been nice to believe that he was overreacting and that Sam was just having recurring nightmares, but when it came to the Covenant, nothing was coincidental and every threat must be taken seriously.

"I never thought I'd ever say this, but Reid's right." Caleb said finally, breaking the silence. "It's got to be Chase. It all fits." He looked around the room and noted Reid's smug look of triumph – Caleb had taken his side.

"'All fits'? What are you talking about?" Pogue asked. He remembered Caleb's uneasy feeling a while back and began to wonder.

"The first time Chase came around, he got to you and me by going for Sarah and Kate. Now he's going after Sam, who is an even bigger target because she has something Kate and Sarah don't – powers."

"Chase can't _take_ our powers, we have to will them to him," Reid took over. "And he knows that we won't do that. But we don't know that much about Sam's powers – where they come from, their limits. Nothing."

"So all this time he could have been finding out about Sam and figuring out a way to gain power," continued Tyler. "But how?"

"The nightmares," Reid stated. "Ever since Sam started having them she's always tired and has no energy, not to mention she's been losing control of her powers. She said she couldn't even use her powers when he was here in the apartment. That's how she's been '_helping_' him."

"He was probably really weak after his fight with you," Pogue said, looking at Caleb." He needed time to recover and along the way he must of found out about Sam. All those weeks of nightmares, he's just been draining her of her powers."

"But we've known Sam over a year now. Why wait so long?" Asked Tyler.

"Sam hasn't been strong enough," Caleb answered. "She denied her powers for so long and it's only been recently that she's been developing them. On top of that, Chase would have had to do his homework. Chase may be completely insane, but he's not stupid."

"Makes you wonder how long he's been watching us; and how closely if he knows about Sam's powers," Pogue said solemnly.

There was another period of silence that befell the Covenant. It was difficult to swallow the fact that Chase had returned, but it all fit. They all knew, even though they had tried to deny it, that his return was immanent.

"Where's Sam now?" Caleb asked, taking charge. He was not going to let anyone else get hurt because of Chase. He'd almost lost Pogue, Sarah and Kate to him before and his father died to protect Caleb. He was done with it – he wouldn't let it happen again.

"Class," Reid replied. "I told her I'd pick her up." He glanced at his watch and realized that her class was going to finish soon. "Hey Ty – " he was cut short as he had to react quickly to Tyler's keys being tossed his way.

"What do we tell Sam?" Asked Tyler.

"For now, nothing." Tyler and Pogue looked at Caleb quizzically.

"We can't just _lie_ to her," Pogue said, uncomfortable with leaving his friend in the dark.

"I think," Reid interrupted and it looked like it was taking great effort for him to say the next few words: "Caleb's right. She's freaked out enough as it is. There's no need to tell her some psycho freak she's never met is using her in some twisted plan against us."

"But that's exactly why we _should_ tell her!" Pressed Tyler. "So she knows why these things are happening to her." For the first time ever, it seemed as if it was Caleb and Reid vs. Tyler and Pogue.

"But what good will that do?" Caleb countered. "It's not like there's anything she can do about it, so why scare her more?"

"Exactly," Reid said before Pogue or Tyler could make another argument. "Besides, it's four of us against one of him. Sam will be fine." But even as he said it, Reid wasn't quite sure he believed it.

---

"Well _that_ was unusually dull," yawned Adam as he and Sam made their way out of their lecture that had seemed to last forever. Despite what was going on, Sam had to let out a small chuckle. "How'd you do on that assignment?"

"Meh, I passed," Sam replied and shoved the A- paper into her bag. She wasn't one to brag. Adam laughed at her passive attitude and led her towards to coffee vendor around the corner when he noticed that she was looking distracted. Reid had told her that he'd be there after class, but as Sam looked around, she saw no sign of him. It was starting worry her.

"Looking for someone?" Adam asked as he handed her a coffee.

"Yeah," she said. "Reid's supposed to pick me up."

"Ah, the boyfriend," Adam joked. "What's the matter, need a bodyguard all of a sudden?" he joked and Sam continued to look around campus. Adam leaned in closer and whispered, "Don't worry; I don't think the mafia's found you yet." Sam smiled and laughed at the joke, but turned her head again to look around. Despite her usually pleasant company, Sam was getting nervous and uncomfortable.

"Well, missy," Adam said, interrupting Sam's thoughts. "I don't know about you, but I've got class." He smiled at her as he stood up.

"I'm sorry, Adam. I'm just a little out of it today," she apologized. Adam gave her a forgiving smile and said his goodbyes as he went to his next class. Just when Sam was about to pull out her cell phone to fine out where Reid was, she heard his familiar voice behind her.

"Who was that?" he asked. Despite herself, Sam became more agitated. She was worried, he was late, and the first thing he asks about is a friend of hers?

"What, no 'how are you?' or 'Sorry I'm late?'" she rounded on him. He saw that she was angry and for a moment Reid thought that she might have known what he'd done. Throwing the thought aside, as it was impossible, he composed himself.

"Had to get the car from Tyler," he defended and dangled the keys in front of her face as proof. "A little defensive, aren't we?" he joked.

Bad move.

The only thing that kept Sam from slapping or screaming at him was the fact that they were out in public. Instead, she snatched the keys from his hand and marched off to the hummer. Knowing that he'd pissed her off royally, Reid followed quickly and silently behind her to make sure that she didn't drive away without him.

A moment later…

"You know, you really shouldn't drive when you're emotional," said Reid as he clutched the dashboard, fearing for his life as Sam drove like a maniac back to her apartment.

"I am _not_ emotional, Garwin," Sam retorted in a deadly tone that told Reid he was walking on thin ice. "I'm pissed off. I'm all worried, wondering where the hell you are and you show up late joking like the only problem here is the weather! Then you wonder why I'm a little _defensive?"_

They were stopped in front of her apartment, having got there in record time, and Sam was taking deep breaths to control herself. Reid didn't dare move or say anything for fear that she might yell at him again, or worse – start driving again.

"When I asked him why he was doing this, Sam said finally, "do you know what he said to me?" Reid looked at her and shook his head. She was oddly calm. "He said to ask you."

Reid was torn between confused and upset. "You didn't tell me that before."

"I was trying to figure out what it meant before," Sam returned. "You know what's going on, don't you?" Reid had to admit, she was not a stupid girl, and she was connecting the dots. He knew that he'd agreed not to say anything, at least until they knew more, but he couldn't outright lie to Sam. Instead, it was his turn to become defensive.

"Some creep mentions my name and all of a sudden it's my fault?" Sam obviously didn't expect retaliation. Reid felt bad for making her feel bad, especially since it probably _was _his fault, but the less she knew, the safer she'd be. There was not telling what Chase was going to do, and the more she knew about it, the more of a target she'd become.

"Listen," Reid said, trying to release some of the tension. "Why don't we just go inside, talk to the guys and figure out how to deal with this?" He sounded hopeful and prayed that his tone hid the guilt that he felt for misleading her.

Sam knew that he'd already told the guys what was going on. She'd seen Caleb's mustang and Pogue's bike parked down the street. Instead of mentioning it, however, she decided to leave it alone. She felt bad for accusing Reid and didn't want to fight anymore – especially with some unknown danger out there somewhere.

"Fine," she said, a little angrier than she meant, but she wanted him to know she was still mad at him. Just as Sam and Reid had stepped out of the car Pogue and Caleb came out the front door of the building.

"What's going on?" Reid asked. He had been under the impression that they were going to work something out, at least some kind of plan of protection for Sam from Chase.

"Tyler will explain," was all Caleb said before he headed for his mustang and Pogue to his bike. With that, Sam and Reid walked, slightly confused, into the building and up to Sam's apartment to a waiting and slightly nervous-looking Tyler.

---

"I don't like this," Pogue said once he and Caleb had reached their destination. "It's not right keeping something like this from Sam." He paused and looked at his fearless leader, hoping in vain to change his mind. "Caleb, it's not right," he said again.

Before Caleb could give his argument there was a loud gunshot that echoed around them, sending birds flying from the surrounding trees.

"It's just me and Pogue!" shouted Caleb towards the house. "We really should invest in a pair of glasses for him," he whispered to Pogue as they made their way towards the old colony house. They saw Gorman from the top window putting the shotgun away as they approached.

"Back for more books, Caleb?" Gorman asked. Caleb and Pogue looked at the old man confused.

"What are you talking about?" Caleb didn't like where this was going.

"You came here a while ago and took some books – which you have yet to return," Gorman said rather sternly to the youth.

"Exactly when was he here?" Pogue asked.

"A month, maybe six weeks ago," he responded. "You know, you boys should really come and visit more often. You're mother's here at least once a week, Caleb." Even in the dimness of the old house, Gorman could see the disturbed looks on the two teens' faces. "What's wrong? You haven't lost those books, have you? Because if you have – "

"I never took any books," stated Caleb.

"Nonsense. I found you in the cellar and you took three books with you when you left."

"Gorman, I haven't been to the cellar in months." It was true that they had come back to Ipswich for Andy's birthday, but that was it. There were not trips down to the cellar and Caleb definitely didn't take any books with him. He turned to Pogue. "That's how Chase knew. He came here and took books to find out how to get to Sam's powers." Caleb turned to Gorman and asked, "What books did he take?"

"I didn't see," Gorman responded. "All I saw when you – he – walked away was that he had three books. I didn't see the titles."

"We need to find out what he took," Caleb stated and turned to head down to the cellar. "We need to know what he's up to before someone else gets hurt."


	10. Be Prepared

Disclaimer: I think as of yet, the only thing I own is a bit of lint I found in my pocket. And considering my mom still does my laundry…

Part two of my apology to all my readers…

Ghosts of the Past – Be Prepared

"Start explaining," Sam said as soon as she and Reid got inside the apartment. She wanted to know what was going on and she knew Tyler would crack. "What do you guys know and where did Caleb and Pogue go?" Tyler gave a quick glance at Reid, hoping maybe to get some mercy but Reid shrugged – he knew less than Tyler at this point. Sam caught the exchange and grew even more impatient. "I asked you, Tyler. If I wanted an explanation from Reid I'd have asked _him_. Caleb said you would explain."

"Caleb and Pogue went to Ipswich to see if there was anything there that could help." Tyler said quickly. He hated being the object of Sam's anger because an angry Sam was a scary Sam.

"What do you guys know?" Sam demanded.

"Not much right now," Tyler said. It wasn't _exactly _a lie. In truth, they didn't know what Chase was up to. "They went to see if they could find out something from the books that are there," he finished. Sam seemed to buy it but behind her Reid stood knowing that there was more to the story.

"Fine," Sam said, "I'm going to take a nap." She walked to her room and shut the door. Tyler and Reid waited silently for a few minutes to make sure that she had gone to sleep before continuing the conversation.

"And?" Reid asked when he was sure that Sam wouldn't hear.

"If Chase used his powers to take Sam's then there should be something in one of those books to reverse it," Tyler whispered. "It's obviously some kind of spell."

"And if they can't reverse it?" Reid asked. He knew he shouldn't have, as he already knew the answer, but he couldn't help it.

"Then Sam doesn't get her powers back and Chase stays as powerful as ever." Reid grumbled under his breath at Tyler's response and went to the freezer to get the ice cream he knew was stashed in the back. However, a quick glance at his watch told him that he was going to be late for his Law midterm. Cursing, he grabbed Tyler's keys that had been abandoned on the kitchen table and jet out of the apartment. Tyler laughed at his friend's antics until he realized that Reid had taken his keys. He shook his head and took a seat on the couch.

"That kid needs his own car."

---

"Spell books," said Gorman. He, Caleb and Pogue were down looking at what Chase had taken.

"Are you sure?" Pogue asked. He was doubtful because they'd only been there a moment before Gorman made his assessment.

"Absolutely. Two spell books and one history book."

"History?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, some of these books give detailed histories of you families. The other two books are filled with dark, powerful spells – spells that were forbidden by the Covenant many generations ago because they require too much power."

"Then why do we still have them?" Pogue asked.

"Because your Covenant believes that history is more important," Gorman answered. "The Covenant decided that the knowledge of this kind of magic, though dangerous, was still important to pass on to future generations. The third book – the history one – details the Damnation and all of the Covenants that were formed." Caleb and Pogue looked at each other skeptically. "You weren't foolish enough to believe that yours was the only Covenant formed during the Damnation, were you?" Gorman looked surprised and Pogue and Caleb's looks turned to those of shame at how naive they had been. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least of your friend Sam was descendent of one of the other covenants."

"It would explain her powers," Caleb said thoughtfully. "Other covenants might just pass their powers down differently then ours. I bet hers skips every other generation – her grandmother had powers but her father didn't." Gorman nodded his head, accepting the explanation.

"Alright, so Chase took some books and we know he's planning something that has to do with stealing Sam's powers," Pogue stated, "but what?"

"Don't know, and I don't like the idea that it might be one of those things we can't stop before it happens," Caleb said. "Any advice?" he turned to Gorman.

"Be prepared," was Gorman's only answer before handing Caleb a book and walking out of the cellar. Caleb took a quick glance through the book and noticed that it was a book on protection spells. He an Pogue silently went to work locating all other books that might help them and hoisted them up to Caleb's mustang to take back to Harvard.

---

"Hey, Ty?" asked Sam when she had woken up from her nap. She was in a much better mood now that she had gotten some rest. "Can you drive me to class?"

"Would if I could, Sammy, but Reid stole the hummer again." He put down the box of ice cream that he had completely demolished and laughed at Sam's expression.

"Damn it, if I have any pull as girlfriend, that boy's getting his own damn car," Sam cursed as she poured herself some coffee. When Tyler took a seat at the counter she poured another cup for him and said, "Screw it, I don't want to go to class." Tyler raised his eyebrows at her. "What? I'm acing that class anyways."

"Yeah, but still…" Tyler started but he never got to finish his thought. A swirling sensation overcame him and everything around him began to fade. The last thing he heard before darkness overcame him was Sam calling his name.

Sam ran over to Tyler as he hit the ground. "Ty!" she yelled and looked around. She knew they weren't alone. "Leave us alone!" she screamed, though she still couldn't see their attacker.

"Can't do that, sweetheart," said the chillingly familiar voice. "Hate to break it to you, Sammy, but not everything's about you." He laughed at her as she tried to shake Tyler awake.

"What are you talking about? What did you do to him?" Sam was getting hysterical – Tyler wouldn't open his eyes and Sam had no powers to protect them. That's when the shadow man revealed himself. As he walked closer to Sam the darkness around him began to fade and for the first time, Sam was able to see who was behind the shadow. The familiar face she saw shocked her beyond belief and she was at a loss for words.

"All this time, you thought this was about you," said Adam. "What you didn't realize is that you're just a way to get to them." He emphasized his point by nodding at Tyler.

"I don't understand, what do they have to do with you?"

"Let me properly introduce myself, then. Maybe that will help you." Adam paused only to give his evil smirk. "My name is Chase Collins."

---

"That was actually really easy," Reid said as he walked out of his midterm with Kate. She only shook her head.

"So how's Sam?" she asked. She hadn't had an opportunity to talk to Sam and wanted to know how everything was going.

"She's fine," Reid replied, but the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach made him pull out his cell phone and dial the number he knew so well. When he got her voicemail for the third time Reid turned abruptly in the direction of Sam's apartment and all but ran that way. Kate followed quickly behind him and gave him a look before he could question her.

"She's my friend too."

That said, they both and rushed towards Sam's. When they arrived Reid didn't even go for the buzzer. With a quick flash of his eyes the door swung open and he and Kate ran up the stairs. They stopped at Sam's door just long enough for Reid to whip out his cell phone, dial Caleb's number and hand it to Kate. Taking the hint, she ran quietly down the stairs and out the door.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up, Garwin," Chase said as the door flew open. Reid's eyes immediately turned black as he quickly surveyed the scene. Chase was standing in the middle of the apartment and Sam and Tyler were on the floor a couple of feet away, Tyler unconscious. However, before Reid could do anything he was sucked into the apartment and the door was slammed shut behind him by an invisible force.

"Four against one, Collins," Reid said, "You can't win." He had placed himself between Chase and Tyler and Sam, ready to fight.

"I only see three," Chase sneered. "And two are out of commission." Reid knew he wouldn't last long against Chase by himself. Sure, he had ascended, but Chase now had three times the power that Reid did. Instinct took over and Reid shot a wave of energy at Chase who easily dissolved it.

"You're no match for me, Garwin. Just give it up."

"_Damn it!"_

---

Kate cursed at Reid's phone as she waited impatiently for Caleb to pick up. It rang a few more times before Kate heard his voice.

"What, Reid?" he sounded worried, which proved to Kate that they boys already knew what was going on.

"It's Kate," she said quickly. "Reid's at Sam's, something's wrong." She was struggling to keep calm.

"What happened?" Caleb hit the gas petal down further and zoomed down the highway. Pogue, on his bike behind him, revved his engine to keep up with the Mustang.

"We went to Sam's because Reid called but there was no answer and when we got here he made me call you. Something's wrong, Caleb, I know it." Kate's voice was shaking.

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Caleb said as the speeding Mustang turned onto the off ramp. Not even checking to make sure Pogue was behind him, Caleb maintained his highway speed until he saw Kate outside Sam's apartment a few minutes later.

"They're still up there," she said when Caleb got out of the car at the same time that Pogue pulled up on his bike.

"Stay here," Caleb warned as he and Pogue ran quickly into the building and up the stairs.

---

"I wont will you anything," Reid said, eyes still black and position firmly maintained.

"This wasn't about getting more power!" Chase laughed. "I'm already more powerful than even Caleb, now that I've got missy's powers." Deep down Reid knew Chase was right, but the rebellious child in him refused to acknowledge defeat.

"Caleb and Pogue will be here any second, and then we'll see who's more powerful," Reid spat, and he was silently praying that his two brothers were close.

But Reid never got the chance to find out if they would be rescued or note, as a strange swirling sensation overloaded his senses and he felt his body rush to the ground.

Caleb and Pogue burst through the door just as Reid's limp body fell. At once the two boy's eyes turned black as night and they both launched an attack on Chase. He stumbled back but laughed it off and with a simple wave of his hand and a gust of smoke he was gone.

And so were Sam, Tyler and Reid,

---

I hope you enjoyed!

Next chapter up by Monday!

Now… Hit the REVIEW button!!


	11. True Ghost Revealed

Disclaimer: Don't own anything…

Well, I would have updated this a while ago…but I only got 1 review! Come on people!

Ghosts of the Past – True Ghost Revealed

Pogue gave a cry of rage and frustration as he stared at the vacant space where his friends had just been. Caleb, noticing a neighbor of Sam's poking his head out to see what the ruckus was about, muttered quickly about a hang over and pushed Pogue into the apartment and shut the door.

"Is it safe to be in here?" Pogue asked after a few deep breaths.

"I think so," Caleb answered. "If he wanted us too I think he'd be able to manage it. No, he wants to stir the pot for a while." Though Caleb was calm and rational on the outside he was panicking on the inside. Sam didn't have her powers and Reid and Tyler seemed to have been knocked out.

"I'm starting to think this isn't about gaining power anymore," Pogue stated, interrupting Caleb's thoughts. "Why would he only take Reid and Tyler?"

"You're right. He knows we won't will him our powers even if he's got hostages because we found a way around that last time. This is about revenge."

"Crap," Pogue said suddenly and headed for the door. "Almost forgot about Kate."

"Bring up the books while you're down there."

Kate and Pogue reappeared in the apartment a few minutes later, each with a pile of books that they placed on the kitchen table.

"What do we do now?" Kate asked.

"Whatever it is, we need to do it fast," Pogue said. "If it really is revenge Chase is after, then he won't keep them alive for long."

"Chase?" The fourth voice made all three occupants of the room jump. Sarah stood at the front door looking frightened and confused. "What are you guys talking about? What happened?"

"Chase is back," Caleb said. "And he's got Sam, Reid and Tyler."

"And he's stolen books with some seriously powerful spells in them," Pogue finished, "he wants revenge."

"We've got our own books here and we're at the advantage since they're more of us." Caleb was getting right into fearless leader mode. "The only thing now is finding out where Chase took them, and pray that they're still alive."

---

"How much did I drink?" Tyler mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes. His head was pounding and he felt like he'd just polished off a 40oz of rum by himself. He was laying on a cold, hard surface somewhere vaguely familiar, illuminated only by the soft dancing flames of candles.

"You wish you were hung over, Baby Boy," said that chillingly familiar voice of Chase. Memories of what had happened slapped Tyler in the face and he sat up quickly to get a better look around. Oh, yes, he knew exactly where he was now.

"I'm not willing you anything," Tyler said immediately, and this seemed to agitate his foe.

"Why does everyone think I'm out to get their powers?" Chase asked, exasperated. "I don't care about your powers anymore! Don't you get it? I'm already more powerful than you!"

"That's only because you used black magic to steal those Proctor kids' magic!" Said another familiar voice to Tyler's left. He looked towards the voice and saw who else was with them. Gorman, Sam and Andy were tied up together on the floor. Taking another quick glance, Tyler finally noticed Reid lying unconscious near Chase.

Remaining level-headed, Tyler quickly went over his options. He knew he wouldn't last long on his own against Chase. All he could do was try and keep them alive long enough for Pogue and Caleb to show up. '_Keep him talking,'_ he thought to himself. It was then that another thought struck him – his cell phone. Tyler could still feel the small metal contraption in his back pocket. Chase hadn't taken it. He attempted to get up, but Chase wouldn't have it.

"Down, boy." A sudden rush of cold wind pushed Tyler easily back onto the floor. Chase sneered at him, "Why don't you take a seat with your friends?" Suddenly Reid's limp form rose from the ground and came hurtling towards Tyler. They collided with a loud _'thud'_ and the force of the impact pushed the two teens back towards the tied-up hostages. Satisfied that he had conveyed his message, Chase went back to rummaging through a large sack on the floor.

"We can take him!" Andy whispered to Tyler, but he shook his head.

"Maybe if Reid was awake or you and Sam had your powers," Tyler said as he pushed Reid off of him and reached for the phone in his pocket. He hid it behind Andy, hit the _'silent'_ button and dialed Caleb's number.

"Why bring us here?" Tyler asked after he saw that the line had connected – Caleb had picked up. Though he hadn't spoken very loudly, the echo of his voice reverberated loudly off the walls. "Trying to make some kind of point?" He couldn't outright say where they were for fear that it might give the game away. He had to get Chase to say it.

"You could say that," Chase answered. "I thought it would be fitting to kill you where your precious Covenant is supposed to be safe – your one true refuge." Chase was obviously completely unaware of Tyler's plan and continued proudly, as if his plan was a work of pure genius. "This place belongs to me now. After all, it belonged to _all_ of our ancestors, including mine. It's a shame his old cellar probably won't last the night."

'_Bingo!'_

---

"Putnam barn?" Sarah offered. They were all trying to think of where Chase could have taken their friends and she frowned when Pogue shook his head.

"It was completely burned down last year," he said, "there's nothing left of it."

"Shut up!" Caleb said so suddenly that the others jumped. "It's Tyler," he said, confirming it by holding up his phone to show them Tyler's name flashing on the screen as the phone rang. Caleb hit the speaker button immediately and put the phone down on the kitchen table so that they could all listen to Tyler's voice on the other line.

"_Why bring us here? Trying to make some kind of point?"_

"That's my boy!" Pogue whispered in triumph. "Come on, Ty. Where are you?"

"Shhh!" Caleb warned.

"_You could say that."_ Chase's voice sounded on the other end. _"I thought it would be fitting to kill you where your precious Covenant is supposed to be safe – your one true refuge. This place belongs to me now. After all, it belonged to all of our ancestors, including mine. It's a shame his old cellar probably won't last the night."_

That was the last they heard before the line went dead.

"I knew that boy was a genius!" Pogue exclaimed. "So what do we do now? We can't just barge in there."

"That's exactly what we're going to do," Caleb said, shocking the rest of them. "What's most important right now is getting them out of there alive. If we waste time then our chances of doing that go out the window." He paused then, contemplating how best to keep his friends from getting hurt.

"All we need is one good hit," Pogue said slowly. "Something good enough to at least stun him long enough for us to get Ty and the others out of there."

"But what then?" Sarah asked, "what's to stop him from just coming right back and trying it again?" Caleb picked up one of the books that had been abandoned on the kitchen table.

"These can help," he said as a plan began to form in his head. "This is going to take some massive power." He looked at Pogue, who agreed immediately – anything to get is friends back safely.

"Ok," Caleb continued with the undivided attention of the other three. "This is what we do."

---

Tyler hung up the phone as soon as Chase gave away their location. Chase had begun to walk around and Tyler didn't want to risk getting caught with the phone and pissing the psycho maniac off even more.

"If it's revenge you're after, then why don't you just get it over with?" Tyler asked which earned him a sharp kick in the leg from Andy. He ignored it and went on. "You've got me and Reid. These three don't have anything to do with any of it, so just go ahead. Finish it."

Chase swept quickly over to Tyler who didn't even flinch. He glared daggers at his captor, who looked like he was itching to take Tyler out right there, but he controlled himself.

"I would kill you right now, Baby Boy," Chase said coolly and took a few steps back, "but that would spoil the fun." He went back to pulling things out of the sack. The last thing that emerged was a book. "You're little Covenant is going to pay for centuries of banishment."

It was then that Reid began to wake up. He lifted his head and focused his eyes on Tyler, Andy, Sam and Gorman. As realization struck him, Reid bolted upright only to be shot down by Chase.

"Well, well, look who decided to grace us with his presence," Chase teased. Reid crawled towards the others and, slowly this time, sat up.

"Yeah, well," Reid started, obviously as drained of energy as Tyler was, "it's not a party without me."

"Well then I guess you'll be glad to know that you're one of the guests of honor!" Chase began to place the items from the bag around the stone table. "I can't do this without your little clubhouse members." He then occupied himself with making sure the items were in some kind of order, giving Tyler an opportunity to free the still-tied Sam, Andy and Gorman with a quick flash of his eyes.

"Double team him?" Reid asked, barely even audible. Tyler only nodded quickly and mouthed the countdown.

Three. Two. One.

At the same time both Reid and Tyler's eyes went black and they shot to their feet in a flash, but Chase was ready for them. Before either one of them could make another move, web-like bindings wound their way around the two boys so that they could hardly breathe, let alone move.

"Time to get this party started!" Chase exclaimed, walking menacingly towards the two bound Covenant members.

Without thinking, Sam rushed towards Chase in an attempt to do something – anything – to stop him. He didn't even have to use his powers to stop her, as he threw her effortlessly to the side with nothing more that a forceful push. She landed on all fours but got up quickly, making another fruitless attempt to do some harm to Chase. This time Andy joined his sister in trying to tackle him, which only furthered his impatience. Chase sent a wave flying at the two Proctor siblings which sent them hurtling in opposite directions, the only things to catch them were the walls with which they collided. Then Gorman stood up, but didn't move as Chase turned to him.

"Don't think your bones could handle the impact, old man," he said. Gorman didn't heed Chase's warning and flew at the boy like a madman. He wasn't about the just _let_ this happen. With a simple push Gorman landed near Andy and did not get back up. "Are we done with the heroics?" he asked the three nearly unconscious, powerless prisoners. "Good!" he shouted when none of them moved or responded. "On with the show."

Chase reached under his jacket and pulled out an antique-looking dagger. Holding out his other hand, a bowl that matched the dagger floated from the round table to him. Chase walked up to Tyler first. His eyes widened when he saw what was in his enemy's hand and he struggled to maintain consciousness as his bindings nearly suffocated him. Tyler felt his hand come free and at the same time felt the sharp pain as the dagger dug forcefully into his flesh. If he'd had more air in his lungs he might have cried out, but all Tyler could do as he struggled to breathe was bare the pain.

Reid watched helplessly as Chase cut into his brother and saw the blood from the wound drip into the bowl in his hand. Knowing he was next, Reid struggled against the web-like substance that was holding him hostage but quickly decided that it was a bad idea. The more he struggled, the more constricted he became. Reid tried to will his powers to work but everything in front of him began to blur again, and the only thing he was aware of was the sharp pain as the dagger cut deep into his right hand. Then suddenly there was a crash and a flash of light before everything went black.

---

"But then why not just kill them?" a faint voice asked form somewhere Reid didn't know.

"Shh!" said another voice. Reid heard a door creek open and then quietly click shut again.

"He wants all four of us first," said a third, this time male voice.

"But why keep us alive?" asked the second voice. Reid slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar room. He lifted his head slowly and only enough to take a quick glance around. His body ached and screamed at him for moving, so after noting that Tyler was in a bed across the room, he put his head back down and tried to think. Remembering the pain he'd felt in his hand before very sense left him, Reid slowly lifted his right hand to see that it was bandaged. He tried to think what had happened next, but his memory failed him and he stopped trying to think so hard when his head began to pound.

The groan Tyler gave from the other bed seemed to echo around the room as the younger boy unhurriedly tried to sit up. The other voices had faded away and Reid never got the answer to what he now knew was Sam's question.

"How you doing over there, Baby Boy?" he asked. He was disturbed by the way his voice sounded after his lungs were nearly crushed. His question came out as a mere raspy whisper, and Tyler's voice was no better. 

"I feel like I just got run over by an elephant," came his response. "How'd we get out of there?" he asked as he cautiously slipped his legs over the edge of the bed. Tyler took a quick glance at the damage under the bandage and immediately regretted it.

"Caleb and Pogue, probably," said Reid, as he surveyed his own damaged hand. "Holy shit!" he said, a bit overdramatically. "He nearly cut off my hand!" Reid stood up quickly and grabbed the bed post to keep his balance. "I want to know what happened," he muttered and headed to the door. Tyler got to his feet as well and swayed on the spot for a few seconds before following Reid into the hall.

Immediately after walking out into the hall, both boys knew exactly where they were. They were at the Danvers's manor in Ipswich. They had been in the spare room. Reid and Tyler slowly made their way down the stairs towards the kitchen, where they heard the voices of their friends. This time it was Gorman who was talking.

"That's why he took those books," he said. Both Reid and Tyler were confused to say the least. They, after all, had no idea what Chase had done, but what Gorman said next brought chills to the spines of all four Covenant members.

"To know what he'd need to bring back Putnam's spirit."

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Dun dun dun!

I don't exactly know the whole story behind Putnam's ghost, but the Covenant website mentions it a bit so I thought I'd take my own stab at it. And yes, Andy lost his powers too.

Next chapter you will find out…

What Caleb's plan was

What went on with Andy losing his powers, and

How Chase is trying to bring back Putnam's spirit.

Well, that is, if I get some reviews!


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